St. John's University Athletics
PREGAME QUOTES: No. 15/15 St. John’s at No. 6/6 UConn
St. John’s Men’s Basketball Head Coach Rick Pitino and graduate student guard/forward Bryce Hopkins spoke with the media prior to Wednesday’s matchup with the Huskies in Hartford.
Head Coach Rick Pitino
On what needs to improve from the first meeting with UConn…
“I have my theories, and I'd rather not say it, but we shoot better on the road. We are going to have to make some threes, certainly. I think they're going to adjust and go bigger than they did [in our first meeting]. ... So, it'll be a group effort, it's always been a great game against Connecticut. We expect another great game. You always ask me those crystal ball questions, and I can't answer it because it's all conjecture. You never know who's going to get in foul trouble. You never know who's going to play well. You just don't know. That's why it's fun. Looking forward to the game.”
On Bryce Hopkins’ development…
“Well, I didn't see him back when he was at Providence, so I couldn't tell you about that, but he is playing good basketball. He's much more assertive and he's much more confident in his abilities. I think like anything else, he's passing the ball well, he's rebounding well, he's driving well, he handles the ball great on the break like, like Dillon Mitchell does. You've got guys, those two guys probably are the best on the break handling the basketball.”
On the team’s defensive performance in the second half versus Marquette and against Creighton…
“It’s all scouting, it's not really defense. They're honed in now to scouting. … I'll give you an example, I called a timeout. I was really upset at Bryce [Hopkins] as well as Dillon Mitchell in the last game, early in the second half, because they blew a scouting assignment that we went over one thousand times. So, it's all scouting. … You want your guys to play pick and rolls a certain way, set screens a certain way, and you want it to be meticulous without any mistakes at all. If you can bat 95% of the time, then you're going to have a good defensive game. The defense has gotten a lot better because they're honed into scouting really well.”
Graduate student guard/forward Bryce Hopkins
On his development defensively…
“Well, I do feel like I have definitely gotten better on the defensive end. I feel like it helps with the preparation that we do in practice and the coaches not letting us slack on the defensive end. But I do feel like I'm playing some good basketball right now. I feel comfortable on the court and I feel like a lot of that, it took time to adjust to the playing style here. Adjust to playing with a whole group of new players and I feel like right now we're doing a great job and we're playing off each other and we're playing some good basketball.”
On how his BIG EAST experience has helped his comfort level…
“I think it helps a lot. Like you said, I've been in the BIG EAST for now almost 4 years. Not playing all the time but just being in the conference and knowing what the conference is about. The physicality that people play with, the preparation that it takes to play at a high level and playing against some similar coaches around the conference. So, the experience definitely helps and being out from my injury, I think it allowed me to sit back and actually buy into what the coaches want and the playing style of certain teams.”
On expectations for the rematch against UConn…
“I feel like they're definitely going to come with some different looks towards us. They're probably going to be more aggressive. They're playing at home, so there's going to be a lot more energy in the building, probably going to be playing harder. Not saying that they didn't play hard the first game but just feeding off their crowd's energy and stuff like that. It's going to be a great environment. They're definitely going to come with a different look for us this time around.”
On what needs to improve from the first meeting with UConn…
“I have my theories, and I'd rather not say it, but we shoot better on the road. We are going to have to make some threes, certainly. I think they're going to adjust and go bigger than they did [in our first meeting]. ... So, it'll be a group effort, it's always been a great game against Connecticut. We expect another great game. You always ask me those crystal ball questions, and I can't answer it because it's all conjecture. You never know who's going to get in foul trouble. You never know who's going to play well. You just don't know. That's why it's fun. Looking forward to the game.”
On Bryce Hopkins’ development…
“Well, I didn't see him back when he was at Providence, so I couldn't tell you about that, but he is playing good basketball. He's much more assertive and he's much more confident in his abilities. I think like anything else, he's passing the ball well, he's rebounding well, he's driving well, he handles the ball great on the break like, like Dillon Mitchell does. You've got guys, those two guys probably are the best on the break handling the basketball.”
On the team’s defensive performance in the second half versus Marquette and against Creighton…
“It’s all scouting, it's not really defense. They're honed in now to scouting. … I'll give you an example, I called a timeout. I was really upset at Bryce [Hopkins] as well as Dillon Mitchell in the last game, early in the second half, because they blew a scouting assignment that we went over one thousand times. So, it's all scouting. … You want your guys to play pick and rolls a certain way, set screens a certain way, and you want it to be meticulous without any mistakes at all. If you can bat 95% of the time, then you're going to have a good defensive game. The defense has gotten a lot better because they're honed into scouting really well.”
Graduate student guard/forward Bryce Hopkins
On his development defensively…
“Well, I do feel like I have definitely gotten better on the defensive end. I feel like it helps with the preparation that we do in practice and the coaches not letting us slack on the defensive end. But I do feel like I'm playing some good basketball right now. I feel comfortable on the court and I feel like a lot of that, it took time to adjust to the playing style here. Adjust to playing with a whole group of new players and I feel like right now we're doing a great job and we're playing off each other and we're playing some good basketball.”
On how his BIG EAST experience has helped his comfort level…
“I think it helps a lot. Like you said, I've been in the BIG EAST for now almost 4 years. Not playing all the time but just being in the conference and knowing what the conference is about. The physicality that people play with, the preparation that it takes to play at a high level and playing against some similar coaches around the conference. So, the experience definitely helps and being out from my injury, I think it allowed me to sit back and actually buy into what the coaches want and the playing style of certain teams.”
On expectations for the rematch against UConn…
“I feel like they're definitely going to come with some different looks towards us. They're probably going to be more aggressive. They're playing at home, so there's going to be a lot more energy in the building, probably going to be playing harder. Not saying that they didn't play hard the first game but just feeding off their crowd's energy and stuff like that. It's going to be a great environment. They're definitely going to come with a different look for us this time around.”